An accessible biography of Henry VIII by one of the country's leading Tudor experts.Author's last book The Tudors brilliantly received: 'The best introduction to England's most important dynasty' DAVID STARKEY; 'Vivid, entertaining and carrying its learning lightly' EAMON DUFFY.Dr Richard Rex is an acknowledged expert on the Tudors.The future Henry VIII was born on 29 June 1491, the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. This talented, athletic and temperamental man might have proved something of a handful to his elder brother, Prince Arthur, the firstborn, had he survived to wear the crown. But Henry's life was changed forever when Arthur died in 1502 and the course of English history took a very unexpected turn.